Senior Cinematographer, Brand Studio

About the Position

Senior Cinematographer, Brand Studio

We’re looking for a Senior Cinematographer to define how Perplexity looks on film. Working with the Creative Director and Video Lead, you’ll translate our visual identity into a practical cinematographic language, then bring it to life across the team’s day-to-day output.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the Creative Director and Video Lead to define and evolve Perplexity’s cinematographic language, and turn it into repeatable approaches for lighting, lensing, composition, movement, and color.
• Shoot and light a steady mix of day-to-day content: candid office moments, executive interviews, product demos, social, events, and documentary stories.
• Lead cinematography on brand films, campaigns, partnerships, and launches.
• Scale to the work: operate solo with a minimal kit, lead a small crew, or help build a full camera, lighting, grip, team (with help from producers).
• Bring storytelling ideas to the table through moodboards, shot lists, storyboards, and experimentation.
• Own camera, lighting, and movement decisions from creative development through capture: build packages, run tests and tech scouts, and solve constraints before the shoot.
• Recommend crew and equipment for each production and lead the camera and lighting departments on set. Producers handle budgets, schedules, contracts, and logistics.
• Help design, build, and run the in-house studio, including lighting, audio, grip, and monitoring.
• Own the team’s gear: recommend, purchase, organize, and maintain it, with ready-to-shoot packages so no setup gets rebuilt from scratch.
• Handle color grading in DaVinci Resolve, and support selects, stringouts, and light edits when turnaround is tight.
• Keep the visual standard high across formats and crew sizes without overbuilding.

Requirements

• 6+ years as a cinematographer or DP across branded, commercial, documentary, and interview work.
• A standout reel showing visual authorship, lighting craft, camera movement, and an eye for honest, unscripted moments.
• A strong point of view, paired with the sensitivity to work within and strengthen an existing brand.
• Deep command of camera systems, lenses, exposure, color pipelines, lighting, grip, and on-set monitoring.
• Genuinely hands-on: equally comfortable building a camera, shaping light, operating, troubleshooting, and leading a crew.
• The judgment to make premium images under real constraints, solo with a small kit or leading a full production.
• Strong pre-production instincts: turning a creative idea into a technically sound, right-sized plan.
• Experience briefing and leading freelance crews and vendors on set, and managing professional production equipment.
• Working proficiency in DaVinci Resolve for color grading, selects, and light edits.
• Collaborative and low-ego. You bring a strong opinion, take direction, and solve problems with partners.
• Comfortable moving fast in an ambiguous, high-output environment without compromising craft, safety, or footage.
• Based in or able to work on-site in San Francisco, with flexibility for travel and long shoot days.

Nice to Have

• A strong Bay Area and Los Angeles network of camera, lighting, grip, sound, production, and rental partners.
• Experience within an in-house brand studio at a technology or consumer company.
• Strong documentary instincts and experience working with founders, executives, talent, or people who are not professional performers.
• Experience with multi-camera interviews, live events, tabletop or product cinematography, motion-control systems, or virtual production.
• Color-grading experience and a strong understanding of how capture decisions carry through finishing and delivery.

We Offer

• Compensation: $150K – $180K • Offers Equity
• Benefits:
  • Comprehensive benefits program including equity, health, dental, vision, retirement, fitness, commuter, and dependent care accounts.
  • Tailored benefits program for full-time employees outside the U.S.

About the Company

Join Perplexity's Brand Studio as a Senior Cinematographer to define our visual identity on film, working closely with creative teams in San Francisco.